It was fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 twin-row 14-cylinder radial engine of 1,535 cubic inches (25.15 L), which although originally rated at 700 horsepower (522 kW), was tuned to put out over 1,000 horsepower (750 kW). The H-1 also had retractable landing gear to further increase the speed of the aircraft, including a fully retractable hydraulically actuated tail skid. Streamlining was a paramount design criterion resulting in "one of the cleanest and most elegant aircraft designs ever built." Many groundbreaking technologies were developed during the construction process, including individually machined flush rivets that left the aluminium skin of the aircraft completely smooth.
It was the first aircraft model produced by the Hughes Aircraft company.ĭesign studies began in 1934 with an exacting scale model (over two feet in length) that was tested in the California Institute of Technology wind tunnel, revealing a speed potential of 365 miles per hour (587 km/h). The aircraft was given many names, but is commonly known as the H-1. The two men shared a common interest in aviation and hatched a plan to build a record-beating aircraft.
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The H-1 Racer was the last aircraft built by a private individual to set the world speed record most aircraft to hold the record since have been military designs.ĭuring his work on his movie Hell's Angels, Howard Hughes employed Glenn Odekirk to maintain the fleet of over 100 aircraft used in the production. It set a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States. The Hughes H-1 Racer is a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935.
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